His Dancing Star

Chapter 5

"A horse?" Galina squeaked, looking up at the magnificent black beast that towered above her. "It's a horse?"

"Of course, of course," laughed Ed. He led her around the flank of the mare and formally introduced her. "Lina, this is Angelica. Angel, this is Lina."

"Hi, Angel," she said, raising her hand and patting the horse's soft nose. Angel seemed to lean into her touch, and somewhat soothed, Galina said to Ed, "She seems nice."

"Oh, she's not. She's a total hellion." Ed looked proud as he circled around to Angelica's other side. "Don't let her name fool you. No one else at the island stables can handle her except me. She once knocked out an app-store millionaire douchebag by head-butting him – which was a humanitarian act if you ask me, but still, it spooked the stable hands so much she doesn't get leant out for rides anymore. She's an ex-circus horse and she won't even tolerate a saddle."

"And we are doing what with her?"

"Taking her for a ride." He muttered soothingly under his breath as he stepped up onto a wooden bench beside where the mare was tied, and gently placed two hands on her back. With slow care, he pressed himself up and lifted his leg over her bare back until he was seated. "Wanna come?"

It was another invitation. She knew there was no pressure either way; with Ed, everything was her choice. "I've only gone horse-riding once a really long time ago," she mused, walking around the beautiful animal.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I did. But I got in trouble." That was an understatement; when her mother found out that the dance camp counsellors had allowed Galina to go riding, she ripped through them with the force of a natural disaster. Dad was there too, she recalled, but she couldn't remember much more than that. Those final days when her dad was still alive were too painful to relive. "Ballerinas don't risk their careers for temporary pleasures," she murmured, echoing her mother's words.

Ed waggled his eyebrows, drawing her from reverie as he said, "Well, you won't get into trouble here. And some of the best pleasures are temporary, if you ask me."

"And yet, you don't do one night stands." The words were out before she could stop them, and even as her face flushed, she looked up to gauge his reaction.

"I used to," Ed said quietly. "I did a lot of them. Not doing one night stands anymore doesn't have anything to do with avoiding pleasure – it's about avoiding pain."

"Pain from what?"

"From being used. I started to feel as though I was nothing more than a beautiful body, interchangeable and disposable."

Her hands nervously fluttered to her hair, smoothing her bun into perfection as a distraction from the bite of his words. How often had she had the hollow feeling of being nothing more than an item to the people in her world? Her choreographers, her co-stars, the theatre company owners, the benefactors – they loved her while she was doing their bidding, but if she showed an ounce of weakness, she'd be out on her ear.

Her mother was the only person who loved Galina truly. After all, Mama had sacrificed her whole life to elevate Galina's career. Perhaps she pushed too hard sometimes, but it came from a good place, Galina was sure of it.

Mama. Galina cringed internally at the thought of how worried she'd be by now, with three days of silence between them. They'd never spent so long apart before. Guilt washed through her, hot and heavy. Maybe I should call her...?

But that would be the end of this adventure. Mama would compel her to return, back to the life that Galina couldn't break free from, to the contract that would imprison her until she was thirty. And yes, that outcome was inevitable, but she needed this time off, more than she needed air – and even more than she needed to reassure her mama she was fine.